Sports
Dodgers befuddled by Colorado pitching as winning streak ends
What the Dodgers hoped was a drought-busting, six-run, eighth-inning rally in New York on Wednesday looked more like a mirage Friday night, their bats going back into sleep mode for most of a 4-1 loss to the last-place Colorado Rockies in front of a crowd of 47,542 in Dodger Stadium.
An offense that showed signs of life during a three-game sweep of the Mets managed only one run and four hits in seven innings off Rockies sinker specialist Dakota Hudson, a 29-year-old right-hander who entered with a 1-7 record and 5.54 ERA in 10 starts this season and did not throw a pitch harder than 91.6 mph Friday night.
“The sinker-baller is sort of an outlier now in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hudson. “It’s [a pitch with depth], and it just seemed like he was putting the ball on the ground, getting us to roll over, missing the barrel. We couldn’t really muster anything against him tonight.”
The Dodgers, trailing 4-0, did stir in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs on a Gavin Lux double and a Miguel Rojas walk off Hudson, and an Andy Pages single off reliever Victor Vodnik, a hard-throwing right-hander.
That set the table for the top of a Dodgers order that features three of the best hitters in baseball — Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
“Bases loaded, no outs … it was setting up to be a good spot for us,” Roberts said. “I would not have wanted anybody else up at that point of time.”
There would be no dramatic comeback. Betts grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Lux scoring to trim the deficit to 4-1, Ohtani walked and Freeman struck out on a 94-mph full-count fastball from left-hander Jalen Beeks, who later retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save.
Betts, Ohtani and Freeman combined to go hitless with one walk in 11 at-bats, 10 of them against Hudson.
“He has a good sinker that he throws at the bottom of the zone,” said Lux, who had an infield single and a double off Hudson. “It’s tough to get it in the air, as you can tell with all the ground balls he got. He did a good job.”
Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, making his fifth start in his return from a second Tommy John surgery, took the loss, giving up four runs — three earned — and six hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking four.
Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler reacts after the first inning against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Buehler escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first by striking out Kris Bryant with a 97-mph fastball on the inside corner and Brendan Rodgers with a 96-mph fastball on the outside corner, but he needed 28 pitches to complete the inning, a heavy, out-of-the-gate workload that seemed to take a toll a few innings later.
Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out in the third, and Ryan McMahon walked. Buehler got Elias Diaz to fly to right field for the second out, but Bryant roped an RBI single to left field for a 1-0 lead.
Rodgers followed with an RBI single to center field that went under the glove of Pages and rolled to the wall for an error that allowed Bryant to score from first for a 3-0 lead and Rodgers to take third.
Buehler walked Elehuris Montero before getting Brenton Doyle to fly to right on his 26th pitch of the inning, but he hung a first-pitch slider in the fourth to Tovar, who crushed a solo homer to left-center, his eighth of the season, for a 4-0 Colorado lead.
“The first inning was a long, tough inning,” Buehler said. “You’re happy to get out of that kind of unscathed, but it’s deflating for our team when you have a first inning like that. You want to come home from a road trip and build momentum, and I did the opposite of that.”
Buehler retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, striking out Jake Cave looking with a nice 89-mph cut-fastball on his 92nd and final pitch of the game, Roberts calling the pitcher’s ability to complete six innings “a win in itself.”
But Buehler, who went 23 months between big league starts, was not in the mood for moral victories. The erstwhile Dodgers ace is 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA in five choppy starts, with 24 strikeouts and seven walks in 25 innings. He has shown good velocity and stamina and has looked sharp at times, but his command has wavered, and he has given up six homers.
“Physically, I’ve probably exceeded where I thought I was gonna be, but performance-wise, I feel like [crap],” Buehler said, when asked to assess his overall performance after five starts. “I’m not anywhere close to where I want to be.
“You think with a layoff like that, you’re not gonna have the same expectations you always have, but when you start tallying these starts, it’s kind of put-up or shut-up time for me, at least mentally, and these last two obviously haven’t been good enough.”
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U.S. men’s national team star Folarin Balogun received a red card in the second half of their Round of 32 World Cup matchup against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night.
Balogun was making a challenge on a ball when he stepped on an opposing player’s leg.
The U.S. men’s national team is down to 10 players for the rest of the match. If the U.S. holds their 1-0 lead, Balogun will have to miss the Round of 16 game.
Balogun scored for the U.S. in the first half.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
SACRAMENTO — The first half of the season will conclude with Will Smith in the same place he has been for the last month: the injured list.
The Dodgers’ three-time All-Star catcher has been on the IL since June 8 because of what the Dodgers list as neck inflammation. Smith said he had been diagnosed with an inflamed disk.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he “just can’t see any world” in which Smith would return before the All-Star break, which concludes July 16.
“It’s certainly longer, I know, than all of us expected,” Roberts said. “But I don’t think it’s anything real, kind of affecting-the-season type thing.”
Roberts said Smith has not been able to accelerate his rehabilitation to the point of doing baseball activities.
Dalton Rushing, who has taken over as the Dodgers’ primary catcher in Smith’s absence, is batting .213 with one home run and 19 strikeouts in 18 games while Smith has been on the injured list. The Dodgers gave Rushing the day off Wednesday.
The Dodgers were 14-6 with Smith on the IL entering play Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, the team scratched shortstop Mookie Betts from the starting lineup because of a sore right wrist.
Sports
Ex-NFL reporter Dianna Russini interaction with police officer to dodge traffic ticket comes to light
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Police bodycam footage appeared to refute a claim made by former NFL reporter Dianna Russini earlier this year about what she did to get out of a traffic ticket.
Russini, whose relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel led to her resigning from her role with The Athletic in April, said on the “Stugotz and Company” show back in February that she FaceTimed the NFL coach, though she didn’t drop the name, of the officer’s favorite team after being pulled over for being on her phone.
It was a story that came up again during the New York Times’ deep dive into the Russini-Vrabel controversy, and now police bodycam footage has confirmed that wasn’t the case. However, she did name-drop a coach.
ESPN reporter Dianna Russini looks on during the NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sept. 16, 2018. (Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire)
The footage went just over seven minutes long, as Russini was stopped in Ridgewood, New Jersey, for using her phone while driving. Not only did a FaceTime never happen, but no call at all occurred during the exchange between Russini and the officer.
What did occur, though, was Russini showing the officer texts she had been having with Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, and she showed the officer her phone with the texts on it.
DIANNA RUSSINI PULLED PATHETIC MOVE WITH AN OFFICER TO GET OUT OF A TICKET, AND IT SHOULD HAVE THE NFL NERVOUS
“I’m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Seam McDermott got fired from the Bills,” Russini told the officer almost immediately, understanding why she was being pulled over. “I was gonna pull over because I have to make calls. I know you don’t care, but I’m just letting you know my reason why. It was a work thing and it was an emergency for what I do.”
McDermott was fired the morning of Jan. 19, which was the date shown on the bodycam footage, after the Bills’ AFC Divisional Round loss to the Denver Broncos.
The officer replied that Russini had been on her phone “for a while” before pulling her over, though he did acknowledge she had a job to do.
Russini continued, telling the officer that former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll “wants the job” with the Bills. He was connected to the team given his history with Buffalo prior to joining the Giants, but they hired in-house with Joe Brady being promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach. Daboll ended up joining Robert Saleh’s staff as offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans.
Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, right, are shown in a split composite image featuring Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans sideline wearing a headset. (Imagn Images)
Russini, then, asked if the officer was a Giants or Jets fan given the New Jersey ties. When he responded by saying he was a Vikings fan, it prompted Russini to seemingly show texts with O’Connell. The conversation, which included Russini saying the Vikings’ quarterback “sucks” and “KOC’s awesome” ultimately led to the officer letting her off with a warning.
“I’m gonna cut you a break on the cellphone,” the officer was heard saying. “I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait until you get home, OK?”
PATRIOTS SAY THEY ‘FULLY SUPPORT’ MIKE VRABEL AMID LATEST IN CONTROVERSY INVOLVING DIANNA RUSSINI
The Center Square first reported Russini’s interaction with the officer.
Fox News Digital reached out to Russini and the Vikings for comment.
Ridgewood Police Chief Forest Lyons issued a statement on the matter.
“On January 19, 2026, at 9:40 a.m., a Ridgewood police officer conducted a motor vehicle stop on Godwin Avenue involving Ms. Dianna Russini for the use of a handheld cell phone while driving,” the statement read. “After following department protocol during the stop, and reviewing Ms. Russini’s driving history, the officer exercised his professional discretion and issued a verbal warning to Ms. Russini.
Dianna Russini attends the 2026 Fanatics Super Bowl Party at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 7, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
“The use of officer discretion in determining whether to issue a warning or a citation is consistent with Ridgewood Police Department policy and longstanding practice. Police officers are encouraged to use their judgment and, when appropriate, provide motorists with warnings as part of the Department’s commitment to fair, impartial and community-oriented policing.”
Russini resigned from her post at The Athletic amid mounting criticism over her relationship with Vrabel after photographs of them hugging and holding hands at a private resort in Sedona, Arizona, went viral. After initially trying to downplay it, saying “reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues,” Russini ultimately released her resignation.
After the original photos, others dating back to 2020 showed Vrabel and Russini kissing at a bar in New York City. The pictures exclusively obtained by the New York Post were taken in the early hours of March 11, 2020.
“They were kissing, and they were all over each other,” an eyewitness told the outlet. “He had a ring on.”
Dianna Russini appears on the red carpet prior to the NFL Honors awards presentation at YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2022. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
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While Russini resigned, Vrabel was back with the Patriots after a counseling visit, which fell on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Vrabel said he had difficult conversations with his family, while also speaking with his players about the situation. The Patriots said before the draft they “fully support” Vrabel, allowing him to seek the counseling he desired despite four rounds of the draft still remaining.
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